{"id":5642,"date":"2015-09-14T11:17:01","date_gmt":"2015-09-14T10:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5642"},"modified":"2015-09-14T11:18:50","modified_gmt":"2015-09-14T10:18:50","slug":"support-local-newspapers-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5642","title":{"rendered":"Support local newspapers call"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Unite print worker Tom Murphy seconded an NUJ motion at the TUC conference yesterday\u00c2\u00a0(September 13), calling for support for local newspapers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In his speech, Murphy highlighted the need for support not just in England but also in Wales and Scotland, and he welcomed support from the London Assembly in regard to local newspapers in the London area.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOver the past 20 years we have seen the demise of many local evening and weekly newspapers with the big provincial newspaper groups merging titles or, worse still, closing them down and creating editorial hubs where our colleagues from the NUJ are required to produce copy and stories for a whole range of newspapers in one area rather than the bespoke journalism that we enjoyed for many, many years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Murphy said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He noted the demise of newspaper printing works in localities.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLocal newspapers are now printed at large sites with distribution being done locally,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis has affected many of my members who worked in the provincial press and were dedicated to its success.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs we all know, we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t turn the clock back and the internet and instant news &#8211; 24 hours a day, 7 days a week &#8211; is now the norm, not just for national titles who have now gone \u00e2\u20ac\u0098digital first\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, but for many local titles where the printed edition is little more than a whole series of edited press releases, sometimes bearing no relation to the locality or the region,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Murphy added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLocal weekly and evening newspapers used to be at the heart of the community. They carried real local news, local political issues, details of important council and political meetings, as well as information on entertainment and events that were of real value to the community.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey also provided an opportunity for debate and discussion. And let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not forget that many local newspapers were responsible for uncovering wrongdoing and the misuse of power.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Murphy urged Congress to support local newspapers as they form \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe heart of the community\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and report on \u00e2\u20ac\u015breal issues that affect ordinary people\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Murphy concluded by supporting the NUJ\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call for the General Council to support a call for a government inquiry into the needs of the local newspaper industry.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unite print worker Tom Murphy seconded an NUJ motion at the TUC conference yesterday\u00c2\u00a0(September 13), calling for support for local newspapers. &nbsp; In his speech, Murphy highlighted the need for support not just in England but also in Wales and Scotland, and he welcomed support from the London Assembly in regard to local newspapers in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[392],"wps_subtitle":"Unite's Tom Murphy seconds NUJ motion ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5642"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5642"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5645,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5642\/revisions\/5645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}